Music: Noga Erez – New Video for “Off the Radar”

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Today Tel Aviv’s fast-rising star, NOGA EREZ, has premiered a striking and surreal video for “Off The Radar”. “Off The Radar” is the title track from her forthcoming debut album, released on June 2nd via City Slang.

“The video takes place at a bizarre sports event where all the participants are weird and eccentric creatures,” says Erez. “We wanted to create a world that shows characters who are trapped in a loop of trying to prove themselves. The judges of this contest are faceless. They express their approval by their moving hands, though you can’t really tell whether they like or dislike the performances. It’s a very festive looking, yet very alienated world.”

Directors Eden Kalif and Daniella Meroz add that it “deals with the concept of being judged, and the perceived necessity of having to meet the expectations of others. The characters perform in a ‘competition’ that has no real ending or winner, just like we feel when we put ourselves deep in the race of life.”

Born four days before the Gulf War started, for Erez, there was never any doubt that, whatever music she chose to make, and whatever she felt about her homeland, she could never ignore her surroundings. After all, even escapism acknowledges there’s something to escape from, and at times – like many who’ve grown up in Tel Aviv – she has wanted to shut herself off from a world rendered beyond comprehension by forces beyond her control. But if there’s one thing Erez isn’t – and sometimes it’s easier to say what artists as complex and fresh as her aren’t than are – it’s naïve. And what this means is simple: her work reflects the manner in which she’s learned to live. As she puts it, “I have this idea of giving people moments of thought and inspiration, and at the same time offering escapism and fun.”

It’s not the easiest of goals, but few succeed as well as Erez. While the music she makes in collaboration with her partner and co-writer, composer and producer Ori Rousso, exploits many of the more physical, dynamic elements of electronic music, it also embraces a cerebral sensitivity that’s made her one of her home city’s most exciting, idiosyncratic artists. As inspired by Björk, M.I.A. and fka Twigs as by Flying Lotus, Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean, the grainy textures and potent atmospheres forged with her synths and ingenious beats bravely straddle genres, energised further by the environment in which she’s grown up.

Uncompromising and unpredictable, sophisticated and bold, Noga Erez is clear about her ambitions. “Our way of trying to keep in contact with our feelings and fears, and of avoiding emotional detachment about everything, is music. Human beings can come from completely different places but share a fundamental basis of emotions. In my opinion, music is the form of art or communication that expresses that most accurately.” The conversation starts now.